[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: [2] “Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? [3] Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? [4] But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. [5] Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. [6] Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. [7] “Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? [8] Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? [9] What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? [10] The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. [11] Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? [12] Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, [13] so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? [14] “What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? [15] If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, [16] how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water!
